Emergency exit opening row: Annamalai says Tejashwi Surya touched emergency door "accidentally"

New Delhi [India], January 20 : After a row erupted over the opening of the emergency exit door of an IndiGo aircraft by BJP MP Tejasvi Surya, Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai who was also onboard at the time of the incident, has said that Surya "accidentally touched the emergency door" but it was not his fault that the flight got delayed.
"Tejasvi is an educated and responsible person. It was not his fault that the flight was delayed. The issue was blown out of proportion as some members of the DMK and Congress were travelling on the same flight," Annamalai told reporters, adding that it was not possible to open the emergency door.
Explaining the whole incident, Annamalai said that the position of the door was slightly disturbed from its original position.
"Surya was uncomfortable with his seating position as people were also approaching him for selfies and photos. During all this commotion his hand accidentally touched the emergency door and Surya realized that the door was not exactly in the right place," the leader said adding, "I saw and I won't say the door was open but it appeared that the position of the door was slightly disturbed from its original position."
He further said that they later informed the crew about the issue and an engineer was called to fix the emergency door to its right place.
"It was a 5-minute procedure, however, the engineer emphasized following the procedure regarding the cabin pressure, so we all were asked to deboard the plane," Annamalai said.
He further said that Tejasvi wrote an incident report and apologized for the same.
The issue came to light after IndiGo on December 10 said that a passenger accidentally opened the emergency exit of its flight 6E 7339 at the Chennai airport during the boarding process when the plane was on the tarmac.
IndiGo also had said the passenger accidentally opened the emergency exit door and apologised for the action.
"A passenger travelling on Flight 6E 7339 from Chennai to Tiruchirapalli on Dec 10 accidentally opened the emergency exit during the boarding process. The passenger apologised for the action. As per SOPs, aircraft underwent mandatory engineering checks which led to delay departure," IndiGo statement said.
Scindia on Wednesday said that it was Surya who opened the emergency exit of an IndiGo plane last month "by mistake" and "apologised" for the same.
"It is important to look at the facts. The (emergency) door was opened by him by mistake when the flight was on the ground and after all checks, the flight was allowed to take off. He also apologised for the mistake. All protocols were followed and DGCA has investigated the matter. It was found all protocols were followed and pressurisation was also checked," Scindia confirmed the incident that has spurred opposition derision and attacks on the Karnataka MP.